"If it does nothing else for us, the concept of after life, the possibility of Heaven, puts a bite into life...making it a bit more interesting."
A modern theologian named Monica Furlong says this about life:
"The first half of human life has as its goal the establishing of ourselves in the world. We learn what kind of world we live in, how to exist tolerably alongside of others and how to find outlets for our talents and ambitions.
"The second half of life has a different set of aims and duties. The zenith of years has passed and men and women gradually become aware of the reality of death and the process of aging. They see what they have missed and are not too sure of where they are going...and a kind of crisis occurs."
The crisis generally has to do with confronting the hard question: What does life mean?...and eventually the even more mysterious one: Where are we going? My experience is that people tend to develop two visions to live by:
One which sees death as a hole which leads to an abyss of darkness and they approach this end with great fear.
The other sees death as a door which leads to new light and life which we call Heaven, and although death retains a real sense of unknown, there exists alongside a sense of hope for new beginnings.
It is the greatness of Christianity that the concept of after life in a place we call Heaven exists...it is a great irony that we modern sophisticated Christians know more about Heaven through movies, TV shows and jokes than we do through Scripture. For example, this story from the life of Mark Twain:
At a dinner party, the subject of eternal life in Heaven and eternal punishment in hell came up for a lengthy discussion. Mark Twain took no part in it, so the woman seated next to him asked: "Why haven't you said something? Surely you must have some opinion about this." "Madam, you must excuse me," Twain replied, "I am silent because of necessity. You see, I have friends in both places."
Since I do not share Mark Twain's reluctance, I would like to share with you some of my opinions about after life--especially the Christian understanding of Heaven as understood through Scripture. As is our way in Bible class, let's ask the questions:
What is it?
Where is it?
Who goes there?
How do we get there?
And, of course, the hardest question--Why?
Isaiah and Ezekiel and John of Patmos tell us that it is wonderful, glorious and splendid. It has thrones and jewels and heavenly hosts, and a presence of God which is nearly overwhelming.
Along with these particular visions, do you know that of the sixty-six books of the Bible, fifty-three have some reference to Heaven? And seven hundred and thirty-two times the word Heaven is used from the very first page of Genesis: "In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the earth" to the very last page in the Book of Revelation: "And the Holy City of Jerusalem will descend out of Heaven from God." In John's Gospel, Jesus tells Nathaniel, "Truly I say to you, you will see Heaven opened and the Angels of God." If you add in words like "kingdom of Heaven" and "eternal life," there are some six hundred and thirty-eight references to Heaven in the New Testament alone.
The meaning and literal descriptions of Biblical Heaven are quite varied--from ancient and mythical concepts of Heaven as a curtain or membrane upon which God hung stars and sun and moon and behind which he stored jars of wind and water, to the New Testament Heaven as a place where Jesus returned to abide with God in Paradise and establish his kingdom for you and me.
Probably the most interesting developments of what Heaven is all about come from some recent research in after life experiences collected by a psychiatrist named Raymond Moody. In a book appropriately named Life after Life, Moody relates many visions by people who experienced clinical death, but were then resuscitated and lived to tell their tale. In hundreds of interviews, Moody discovered that each had had a very similar experience. The person knows he/she is dead and senses an experience of leaving the body. Then they are drawn through a dark space--as if in a long tunnel--and hear loud buzzing or ringing noises.
They then report seeing a splendid and bright light and come into a sense of incredible peace and quiet. Many report having their whole life flash by in great detail and being met by friends and family who have died previously. Some report being in the presence of a being of light which is indescribable.
Somewhere in the after life experience the person senses or is told to return to complete their life and then they wake up in earthy reality again. As we would expect, this after life experience has a tremendous impact on the individuals who experience it, who say that it is really inexpressible and that they no longer fear death.
Are these experiences clear proof and descriptive of what Heaven is like? Well, maybe not. But what wonderful glimpses into after life for us. (By the way, they relate quite accurately to the Biblical accounts.)
Well, God only knows. This is really the easiest question to deal with because there is no real answer for those of us who live in five senses and chronological time. Maybe it's best to agree with the ancients: It's up there or it's out there, because Heaven is not so much a place as it is a state of being. The mystics, poets and dreamers among us have a better sense of that than this rational engineer, so I leave it to them.
I remember reading one time this simple sentence about salvation: "The Divine Fisherman does not merely hook heavenly fish out of the earthly pond, he brings the whole pond up to himself."
Man's tendency is to set limits, to count and worry about who's who and what's what. God, on the other hand, is limitless and inclusive. I suspect that most all of us will get an opportunity to continue our struggles for salvation after our death--for one of the great doctrines of Christianity is the communion of saints.
"Behold the dwelling of God is with all his people," says the Book of Revelation. "He will wipe away every fear and death and crying shall be no more." All of us are working to sainthood, whether here or there, thank God!
Well, first and foremost, we must die--darn it! This letter comes from a child: "Dear God, what is it like when you die? Nobody will tell me. I just want to know, I don't want to do it." Signed, "Your friend, Mike."
Well, none of us want to do it, but we want to know about it. It's not easy for us when friends and family die, and it is even more difficult when we must face our own death. But the fact is that when we face death as Christians, we are not facing a hole looking into the abyss--we are arriving at a door (or as the life after life people tell us, as through a tunnel) which leads to ineffable beauty...and incredible peace.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells us clearly, as he prepared his disciples to follow him into a new life, "I am the door throu